I’ve had the opportunity to review the Peterson’s Handwriting Curriculum.  They have many options to choose from to help your child with handwriting.  We were given the cursive writing set for 4^th-8^th grade.  The set includes, the Teacher Handbook, Pupil Book, Cursive Position Guide, Pen, and a CD with animated letter writing guide. 

There was quite a bit of reading to do to familiarize myself with the Peterson Method – which is really based on fluid movement – a rhythm of writing.  We started on paper position, the correct way to hold the pen and then worked on a few basic strokes that when put together correlate into cursive writing.  The process is really broken down into bite-size pieces and each day is broken down into about 10-minute lessons – very do-able in any homeschool.

In working with my oldest (he’s 10), we discovered that our biggest hang-up was proper paper position & hand placement.  Both of my children are left-handed so there are a few choices on paper placement and hand position for left-handed writers.  Once we got that down, the handwriting itself started to look better – and that was before we had really even started writing cursive!  My daughter (she’s 7) also wanted to learn to write cursive, so I let her sit in on the lessons as well.  They both seemed to enjoy them for awhile, but then when we’d get into a few harder strokes (at least for them), it became frustrating because they couldn’t get their cursive “s” to look anything like they were supposed to.  We ended up stopping at this point because they would get so frustrated and nothing I could do to help was working. I plan on going back to the Peterson method when we start back in school after the first of the year. 

Unless you’re already familiar with the Peterson Directed Handwriting Method, it takes some time to learn the methodology and thought behind this program.  Based on the few lessons we did, it makes sense to me – especially the paper position and hand/arm placement.  That alone seemed to really help us.

Rand Nelson, the creator, is also extremely helpful.  Before we even received the program, he was very helpful in getting us started on some exercises in order to prepare for the first few lessons.  Talk about wonderful customer service!!!  There are also several links and pages and “webcasts” on the Peterson-handwriting website to get a better understanding of Rand’s thoughts behind his program and the best way to teach it. 

This program may not be for everyone, but I do think it’ll be very beneficial to my children in the long run.  Some children pick up cursive writing pretty quickly and it takes awhile for others.  We’re in the latter part and it takes us time to go through and learn proper cursive writing.  My goal is for it not to be frustrating but enjoyable so that my children will WANT to continue to learn and practice.

ö      Price:  $38.55 for the Home School Kit Complete, Grade 4

o        Includes:  student text, teacher manual, handwriting songs CD, animated letters CD, Peterson Position Pen, and paper position guide

ö      Many lessons / grade levels to choose from to help any age / writing level

ö      Up-front time-intensive as far as getting prepared for the text / lessons (to understand the methodology and plan for the material) but only 10 minutes a day after that

ö      Overall: 

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